Christian Idiodi
Partner at Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG)
Partner at SVPG alongside Marty Cagan, described by Cagan as 'the most interesting man in the world'; spends his time helping companies implement and improve their product management discipline; long career in product leadership.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Christian Idiodi, partner at SVPG alongside Marty Cagan, tackles the growing dislike of product managers head-on, explaining that PMs earn distrust when they act as project managers rather than genuine problem-solvers. He reframes the PM role around earning 'certificates of appreciation' from users, shares his favorite discovery method, and provides practical coaching on building trust with leaders and becoming the kind of PM teams actually want on their side.
Leadership Principles
- → The real essence of the PM job is waking up on behalf of someone else to solve a problem well enough that they give you a 'certificate of appreciation' — revenue, engagement, loyalty, or referral
- → If PM work is not fun, you're probably not doing it right; if it's not hard, you're also probably not doing it right
- → The reason PMs are disliked is often because they act as project managers or order-takers rather than true product people solving customer problems
Notable Quotes
"The real essence of this job is that you wake up on behalf of someone else to solve a problem for them, and you have to do it well enough that they give you something back in return. I always call it a certificate of appreciation — revenue, engagement, loyalty, reference."
— On the fundamental purpose of product management
"If it's not fun, you're probably not doing it right. If it's not hard, you're probably also not doing it right."
— On the nature of great product management work
Want to know how you compare?
Take the Assessment